Installing ColdFusion MX 7.0.1 on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• March 31, 2006
• James Skemp

Note: For information on updating to ColdFusion MX 7.0.2, see Upgrading our installation of ColdFusion MX 7.0.1 on a local Windows-based, Apache, server. Update: October 10, 2006 @ 7:11 pm - Thanks to Michael Bryce for his helpful comments regarding this documentation. In this article, we'll be walking through an installation of ColdFusion MX 7.0.1, Developer's Edition. Since we've already covered the installation of ColdFusion MX 6.1, Developer's Edition, you may already have CFMX 6.

Read More

Installing PostgreSQL on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• March 15, 2006
• James Skemp

While we've already setup MySQL, another popular SQL server is PostgreSQL. Like MySQL, PostgreSQL is absolutely free, and will allow us to create databases on our local server. Downloading PostgreSQL We'll be downloading the most current version of PostgreSQL, which is 8.1.3 at the time of this writing. You can download the installation file from http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/win32. We'll want to download the regular zip file, called postgresql-8.1.3-1.zip, and weighing in at 21 MB.

Read More

Upgrading (our local install of) WordPress

• March 11, 2006
• James Skemp

In a previous guide, we walked through installing WordPress on a local machine. This time, we'll be upgrading WordPress. For this guide, we'll be upgrading from WordPress 2.0.1 to 2.0.2. Note that this guide will work equally well for upgrading to 2.0.3, 2.0.4 or 2.0.5.

Read More

Installing ColdFusion on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• February 27, 2006
• James Skemp

In this tutorial, we'll be working through an installation of ColdFusion MX 6.1, Developer's Edition, on a local, Windows-based, Apache server. On this server, we've setup Apache, PHP, and MySQL, but will also want to have the ability to work with ColdFusion code (however, not necessarily on the same sites that we'll be using PHP). We'll be doing this to experience a more corporate Web-programming language – corporate primarily because of the costs associated with ColdFusion.

Read More

A local, Apache Web server, on a Windows XP computer

• February 27, 2006
• James Skemp

My intention is to write a number of guides that will help someone build a functional Web server for testing purposes. Since Windows is fairly popular, I've decided to outline how to install Web server programs on it. Since Apache is both powerful and free, I've opted to use it as the core, instead of IIS, or the like. I also plan on keeping the various technologies up-to-date, yet continuing to provide the instructions for past versions used, just in case.

Read More

Installing Zend Optimizer on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• February 26, 2006
• James Skemp

From Zend's FAQ,

Why use the Zend Optimizer; isn't PHP supposed to be quite fast already?

The standard Zend run-time compiler used by PHP is indeed extremely fast, generating code that is usually 2 to 10 times faster. But an application that uses the Zend Optimizer typically executes another 40% to 100% faster.

So, Zend Optimizer will help decrease the time spent on processing code. If you run the file we created a few steps back, probably called http://localhost/phpinfo.php (which basically runs <?php phpinfo(); ?>), you'll notice a line that says "This program makes use of the Zend Scripting Language Engine: Zend Engine v1.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2004 Zend Technologies". This is the standard Zend run-time compiler that is mentioned above. Once we download and install the Zend Optimizer, we'll see some additional lines here.

Read More

Installing MySQL Administrator on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• February 25, 2006
• James Skemp

Last time, we successfully installed both MySQL and phpMyAdmin on our local server. However, we only had one user. This time, we'll be installing MySQL Administrator, to give us the ability to add administer MySQL in a way that we can't do with phpMyAdmin. Before we go, please note that the MySQL Administrator does not take away the value of phpMyAdmin. In fact, phpMyAdmin is usually how you'll be able to administer your MySQL databases in the real world.

Read More

Installing MySQL and phpMyAdmin on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• February 24, 2006
• James Skemp

Note: This guide should work equally well for phpMyAdmin 2.8.1 and above. For a guide on upgrading this 2.7.0-pl2 install, see Upgrading phpMyAdmin (2.7.0-pl2 to 2.8.1) on a local, Windows-based, Apache server. MySQL will allow us to create databases on our local server. With PHP, this will allow us to install applications like the free WordPress, as well as number of open source content management systems, not to mention bulletin boards and the like.

Read More

Installing PHP on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• February 22, 2006
• James Skemp

While our previous article walked through adding Perl to our local server, Perl just isn't going to cut it for creating dynamic content. For that, we're going to have to install a more powerful language. As I said quite a few articles ago, if we would have gone the IIS route, we could have the use of ASP. However, since we're going the Apache route, that means PHP is our best choice.

Read More

Log file analysis of our Windows-based, Apache, Web sites

• February 20, 2006
• James Skemp

In our previous articles, we walked through installing Apache to a Windows XP home computer.  This time, we'll be setting up our log files for analysis, and installing a way to view the log file information. Log files are created by Web sites to track page views and visitors.  For example, if we go to a page on one of our local Web sites with Firefox, like http://website.localhost/, it adds the following lines to a file called access.

Read More